Marketing, Strategy, and The Force by Joe Winn

Tag: interactions

When this blog was much younger, I shared a post asking if you were Bluetooth or WiFi. The premise was simple: Bluetooth represented slower and small-scale, with the added benefit of low-energy. You could make numerous connections nearby and interact with them all seamlessly. Does that sound like you? If not, perhaps you were WiFi. Like your electronic namesake, it stood for high-speed, long reach, and high energy. Decisions happened quickly, decisively, and everything was high-energy. However, everything came back to a central location, rather than the point-to-point nature of Bluetooth (Mesh WiFi wasn’t yet a thing).

One wasn’t better than the other, simply a different approach. Which is necessary in our varied industry. What works in one place may not provide the same results elsewhere.

And then I got myself an Apple Watch.

What does that have to do with the topic? As I learned about its capabilities, I discovered an interesting feature. The normal operation is for the watch to remain connected to my iPhone through Bluetooth (the Low Energy standard, actually, taking our previous metaphor to the next level). However, if the phone is not available or otherwise out of range, the watch will attempt to connect to known WiFi networks. It’s the fallback, since, as you learned, WiFi uses more power, thus decreasing the battery life. Yet the watch adapts as it must.

An important lesson the watch brings to us all.

If you read the original and, before finishing, exclaimed, “yes, I’m definitely WiFi,” take this opportunity to…slow…down…and…look…around. Switch to Bluetooth and see if there’s anything you can bring from its close-knit and low-energy platform. On the other hand, if you studied each sentence of the first post, deliberated over it, shared with your close colleagues, then decided that you seem to be Bluetooth, there’s value for you, too. Go outside your comfort zone. Give that SVP acquaintenance of yours a call. You know, the one who exhausts you just by talking. And if you’re that SVP, force yourself to slow down and connect with your immediate network. Recharge, breathe (as my Apple Watch just guided me through a “mindfulness” session), and absorb what you can from your calm, collected colleague.

When I wrote the first post, I made a mistake. I assumed (you know what happens then!) you could only be one or the other. Why limit yourself? Be like my Apple Watch and do what works best for the situation, your credit union, and your members. And be sure to close your rings!